Street Score 2015 Report Card Highlights City’s Progress

On May 6, Walk San Francisco released the Street Score 2015: Annual Report Card on Walking, the only comprehensive review of the City’s progress towards improving pedestrian safety and walkability in San Francisco The report evaluates citywide progress toward nearly 40 safety metrics, spanning engineering, enforcement, education, evaluation, and policy and legislation.

The Street Score report card tracks how the goals laid out in the Mayor’s 2013 Pedestrian Strategy, which targets cutting pedestrian deaths and serious injuries in half by 2021, increasing walking for short trips, and improving the overall walkability.

“We can’t measure what we don’t count,” said Nicole Ferrara, Executive Director of Walk San Francisco. “The Street Score report tracks what the many city agencies are doing to address pedestrian safety and walkability. In this report we look at progress towards both the overall Vision Zero goal of ending all traffic deaths and serious injuries, and the supporting street improvements, like the number of countdown signals, raised crosswalks, and bulb-outs installed.”

The report card measures progress during the 2014 calendar year, and found the City had met or exceeded several key metrics for the number of countdown signals, bulb-outs, and refuge islands installed, but also identified important areas where the City had fallen short of its previously published goals including:

• The number of people still being severely injured or killed by traffic while walking in San Francisco (the goal was 82 severe and fatal injuries in 2014, but 96 people lost their lives, limbs and suffered other serious injuries in 2014)
• The percentage of total pedestrian deaths, which involve seniors (people over 65+ account for nearly 50% of traffic deaths, but make up less than 20% of San Francisco’s population)
• The implementation of plans to bring more greenery and sidewalk space to San Francisco’s streets

The report card also underscores the following key recommended actions to ensure the City advances towards the Vision Zero goal to create safer streets for everyone:

• Regular monitoring/evaluation of engineering projects and their impact on pedestrian safety
• Investment in a comprehensive Safe Streets for Seniors program
• Improvements to walkability when making improvements to a street
• Advocacy for state legislation to address specific, local safety needs
• Enforcement focus on taming the most lethal traffic behaviors, along the most dangerous streets
• Implementation the City’s Complete Streets policy

For San Francisco to become the most walkable city in the country, strong political leadership will be required to execute the actions necessary to make the goals of the Pedestrian Strategy and Vision Zero a reality. Following the clear support voters voiced in passing two key, transportation funding measures, city leaders now have an obligation to harness the current momentum and demand quick delivery of the strongest safety projects possible to ensure San Francisco meets its Vision Zero goals, to become the safest city for pedestrians in the U.S.

Read more about the City’s progress and recommended actions in the full report.